Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail)

I wholeheartedly congratulate the Minister of State on his appointment. I had the great pleasure of serving with him in this House and he was always a straight talker. I agreed with much of what he had to say then and I agree with an uncanny number of his comments today.

Much of his contribution recognised the policies of the past and the many strengths of our economy. It is important that we realise in the midst of the doom and gloom nationally and internationally following the regulatory and systemic failures of our nation and the international financial services sector in recent years that many of the gains of the so-called boom years are secure. The Minister of State outlined a few of them and one would almost think he was giving accolades to the previous Government for its policies when one considers our export performance, improvements in competitiveness and the creation of 11,000 jobs last year.

However, I take issue with one comment. Did the Minister of State say that within the past three weeks the Government has established a floor for our banking liabilities through the stress tests?